"So what's this got to do with the TARDIS?" Amy asked as the Doctor went back to inspecting the box.
"Nothing, as far as I know." He told her.
"But Vincent's painting. The TARDIS was exploding. Is that going to happen?" The concern was flooding Amy's voice as she spoke.
The Doctor looked at Kari, and again, she couldn't look at him. They both knew that through the cracks, there was an explosion, and through the cracks, the Doctor had a piece of the TARDIS. "One problem at a time. There's force field technology inside this box. If I can enhance the signal, I could extend it all over Stonehenge. Could buy us half an hour." The Doctor told Amy, working away.
"What good is half an hour?" Amy wondered.
"There are fruit, live on Hoppledom Six that live for twenty minutes and they don't even mate for life." The Doctor rambled on. "There was going to be a point to that."
"He'll get back to you on it." Kari said, knowing what was going to happen next.
She watched as Amy turned away from her, only to turn back a minute later with the red box in her hand. Inside was a ring. "So, are you proposing to someone?" She asked, looking from the Doctor and to Kari.
"I'm sorry?" The Doctor asked, not having looked at what she was holding.
"I found this, in your pocket." Amy told him, waving it around as he got up and went over to her.
"No. No, no, that's… er… a memory. A friend of ours. Someone we lost." He said, going to take it from her, only Amy pulled the box away from him at the last minute. "Do you mind?" He asked, holding his hand out for it.
"It's weird. I feel, I don't know, something." Amy said, staring at the ring. Kari could feel a pain in her chest as she saw her friend struggle.
"People fall out of the world sometimes, but they always leave traces. Little things we can't quite account for. Faces in photographs, luggage, half eaten meals, rings. Nothing is ever forgotten, not completely. And if something can be remembered, it can come back." The Doctor told her.
"So, was she nice, your friend?" Amy asked as she handed the box back to him.
"Remember that night you flew away with us?" The Doctor asked her, putting the ring away in his jacket again.
"Of course I do."
"And you asked us why we were taking you, and I told you there wasn't a reason. I was lying." He told her softly.
"What, do you did have a reason?" She asked, looking between the Doctor and Kari.
"Your house." Kari mumbled.
"My house?"
"It was too big, Amy. Too many empty rooms. Does it ever bother you, Amy, that your life doesn't make any sense?" Kari asked her as she gently placed a hand on her arm.
Before anything else could be said, something fired at them. The Doctor grabbed hold of Kari and pulled her behind the Pandorica with him, while Amy went around the other side.
"What was that?" Amy queried.
"Okay, I need a proper look. Got to draw its fire, give it a target." The Doctor said, trying to take a peek around the corner.
"How?"
"You know how sometimes I have really brilliant ideas?" He said, not noticing Kari slip away form him a little.
"Yes."
But before the Doctor could say anything else, they heard someone shouting. "Look at me, I'm a target!" Kari called, waving her arms in the air. She narrowly missed being hit by the laser that was coming from the metal arm on the floor. "How was that, Doctor?" she called from her hiding place.
"Don't ever do that again." He shouted, anger and concern battling inside of him. He was not pleased with what she had just done.
"Why? You were going to do it? Anyway, back to the Cyberarm, you know, arm of a Cyberman." She hollered to him.
"And what's a Cyberman?" Kari heard Amy asked.
"Oh, sort of part man, part robot. The organic part must have died out years ago. Now the robot part is looking for… well… fresh meat." The Doctor told her.
Amy looked at him in pure horror. "What, us?"
"Actually, more just you. The Doctor and I aren't compatible for upgrade." Kari called to her.
"Yes, thank you Kari." The Doctor moaned. "I need to get round behind it." He told Amy. "Could you draw its fire?"
"What, like Kari did?"
"You'll be fine if you're quick. It's only got one arm, literally." He told her. Amy gave him a sarcastic smile and thumbs up before running out from behind the box, screaming her head off.
The Doctor jumped on the arm, his sonic screwdriver in his hand as he worked to disable it.
"Doctor?" Amy called, coming out from her new hiding spot.
"Scrambled its circuits, but stay where you are, both of you, it could be bluffing." The Doctor said, pointing a finger at both of them.
"Bluffing? It's an arm." Amy scoffed, going to step forward.
"I said stay where you are!" He shouted at her.
"Doctor! Kari!" Amy screamed.
"Amy!" The pair called out together. Before the Doctor could move, the arm electrocuted him.
"Oh no you don't." Kari growled, heading for the arm with her screwdriver in her hand. Only she hadn't anticipated the arm would electrocute her as well and she too passed out, landing half on top of the Doctor.
While the pair was passed out on the floor, the head of a Cyberman was hunting Amy. Something flew out of the head and into Amy's neck. She pulled it out and saw a small dart in her hand. "You will be assimilated." It called to her.
"Yeah? You and whose body?" She asked confidently. That was when the rest of the Cyberman appeared, picking up its head and reattaching it.
She backed away from it, ending up in what looked like a cupboard, the Cyberman still trying to get in. Suddenly a sword was thrust through the door, which then swung open.
"Who, who are you?" She asked, started to feel even more disorientated.
The Roman soldier removed his helmet. "Hello, Amy." He said softly, before having to catch her as she passed out.
It was a little while later when Kari began to stir. "Kari…" Someone called to her quietly.
"Oh, God my head. Never doing that again." She moaned as she opened her eyes. "Oh, hello. Not looking bad, you know, for a dead guy." She said, looking at the Roman version of her friend Rory.
"How are you feeling?" He asked as he helped her off the floor.
"Slight headache, but I'll get over it." She said, before smiling at him and throwing her arms around him. "It's so good to see you Rory Williams."
There was a smile on his face as well. "I never thought I'd see any of you again."
"Can't get rid of us that easy. Even by dying." She told him. "Where's Amy?" Rory led her to where Amy was lying on the top of a stone. "You have questions, Rory, best wait till the Doctor get's here to ask them." She told him.
"Sir, the man's coming round." Another of the soldiers called to Rory.
"Kari? Amy?" The Doctor called in a panic. "Where's Kari and Amy?" He said before appearing in the room.
"They're fine Doctor." Rory told him, watching as the Doctor grabbed Kari tightly. "Amy's just unconscious."
The Doctor pulled out his screwdriver and was about to scan her when Kari just showed him hers. "Okay, yes. She's sedated, that's all. Half an hour, she'll be fine. Okay, Romans. Good. I was just wishing for Romans. Good old River. How many?" The Doctor asked, not letting go of Kari's hand, and not noticing the obvious.
"Fifty men up top, volunteers. What about that thing?" Rory asked, pointing to the Cyberman, pinned to the door.
"Fifty? You're not exactly a legion." The Doctor moaned.
"Your friend was very persuasive, but it's a tough sell."
"Yes, I know that, Rory. I'm not exactly one to miss the obvious." The Doctor said, causing Kari to put a hand over her mouth to stop the giggles from spilling out. "But we need everything we can get. Okay, Cyberweapons. This is basically a sentry box, so headless wonder here was a sentry. Probably got himself duffed up by the locals. Never underestimate a Celt." He dropped Kari's hand and grabbed the large Cyber gun.
Rory looked at Kari, then to the man beside her. "Doctor…"
"Hush, Rory, thinking. Why leave a Cyberman on guard, unless it's a Cyberthing in the box. But why would they lock up one of their own?" The Doctor pondered. Kari had to clamp her hand over her mouth even harder now. "Okay, no, not a Cyberthing, but what? What? No, I'm missing something obvious, Rory. Something big. Something right slap in front of me. I can feel it."
The Doctor and Rory were standing extremely close, the noses on their faces almost touching. "Yeah, I think you probably are." Rory said countered. He was amused with the way he hadn't noticed, and even more amused with the way Kari was trying to hold herself together.
"I'll get it in a minute." The Doctor called before walking off with some a large gun in his hand.
Kari couldn't hold it in any longer and let a few giggles escape when she heard the clattering of the gun being dropped. The Doctor walked back into the room and carefully approached Rory. He poked him in the chest, making him rock back on his heels. That was when Kari decided she couldn't hold them in any longer and just burst out laughing.
Rory couldn't help but smile at her, he was used to her laughing and found it all too quiet when she wasn't around.
"Hello again." The Doctor said, trying to ignore Kari in the background.
"Hello."
"How've you been?" The Doctor asked nervously.
"Good. Yeah. Good. I mean, Roman." He replied, pointing to his outfit.
"Rory, I'm not trying to be rude, but you died." The Doctor said. Kari was still laughing away, so the Doctor turned to her and took a hold of her chin. "Kari, stop." He whispered to her, before lightly pressing his lips against her.
That took Kari by surprise and she instantly fell silent, as well as looking back at the Doctor with wide eyes. He tugged at his jacket, straightening it up before turning back to Rory. "Right, much better. Anyway."
Rory cleared his throat. "Yeah, I know. I was there." He said.
"You died and then you were erased from time. You didn't just die, you were never born at all. You never existed." The Doctor pointed out, taking hold of Kari's hand and giving it a quick squeeze.
"Erased? What does that mean?" The Roman Rory asked.
The Doctor kept studying him. "How can you be here?"
"I don't know. It's kind of fuzzy."
"Fuzzy?" The Doctor asked, frowning at him a little.
"Well, I died and turned into a Roman. It's very distracting." He told them, before turning his attention to his fiancée. "Did she miss me?" He asked, stroking her red hair.
"Epic speech time." Kari whispered to herself, just as the ground started to shake. The sound of spaceships could now be heard whizzing around outside. "Time to take it up a gear." She said, pulling the Doctor with her back into the room where the Pandorica sat.
There was a green glow in the centre on each side, and you could clearly hear it unlocking.
"What is it? What's happening?" Rory asked as the Doctor scanned it with his sonic screwdriver.
"The final phase. It's opening." Kari told him. "Right, time to get to work, Doctor."
A short while later, the Doctor was lying on the floor by the box, screwdriver in one hand and a communicator in the other.
"You're surrounded. Have you got a plan?" River asked him.
"Yes. Now hurry up and get the TARDIS here. I need equipment." He called to her before hanging. "What are you? They're all here, all of them, all for you. What could you possibly be?"
While the Doctor was busy, Kari sent a message on her psychic paper to River. She really did like the woman, and she knew what was going to happen next. "River, please be careful. Remember what I said. Kari x." She let out a sigh as she put it away and went to help the Doctor.
"Ugh, that noise out there is worse than your giggles." The Doctor moaned.
Kari just rolled her eyes at him. "Well go and do something about it then." She said, handing him the communicator.
The trio made their way outside, and the Doctor got himself ready. "Sorry, sorry, dropped it." The Doctor said, after everyone covering their ears from the feedback he had just caused. "Hello, Stonehenge! Who takes the Pandorica, takes the universe. But bad news, everyone." He jumped up onto the flat rock in front of him. "Because guess who? Ha!"
"Major, epic speech time." Kari whispered to herself. She loved it when the Doctor went into his speeches, and now, actually being there, she loved it even more.
"Listen, you lot, you're all whizzing about. It's really very distracting. Could you all just stay still a minute because I AM TALKING!" The volume of his voice and the tone of it made all the ships that were whizzing about stop and everything fell silent. "The question of the hour is, who's got the Pandorica? Answer, I do. Next question. Who's coming to take it from me? Come on! Look at me. No plan, no back up, no weapons worth a damn."
Kari couldn't help but smile, she knew she really shouldn't, but she just couldn't stop it from stretching across her face.
"Oh, and something else. I don't have anything to lose. So, if you're sitting up there in your silly little spaceship, with all your silly little guns, and you've got any plans on taking the Pandorica tonight, just remember who's standing in your way. Remember every black day I ever stopped you, and then, and then, do the smart thing. Let somebody else try first."
"Nicely done, Doctor." Kari said to him, as the ships seemed to back off and give the Doctor some space.
He smiled at her. "Well, that should keep the squabbling for half an hour, don't you think?" Kari nodded at him, before drawing his attention to all the soldiers around them. "Romans."
The three of them headed back to the room with the Pandorica in. "They're still out there. What do we do now?" Rory asked as the Doctor got back to work on the box.
"If I can stop whatever's in this box getting out, then they'll go home." He told the Roman.
"Right.
Kari's eyes widened when she realised what was coming next. "Oh, umm… Rory, I'm sorry." She whispered to him.
He just looked at her, but the Doctor had realised why she was talking like that. "You're going to have to be very brave now." The Doctor told him, as Amy walked past and straight to the Doctor.
"Oh, my head." The woman moaned.
Kari smiled at her. "Just your basic knock out drops. Get some fresh air, you'll be fine." She assured her friend.
"Is it safe up there?" She asked.
"Not remotely, but it's fresh." The Doctor told her, giving her a small smile.
"Fine." She turned around and saw Rory standing there, watching her. "Oh, you're the guy, yeah? The one who did the swordy thing?" She asked.
"Yeah."
"Well, thanks for the swording. Nice swording." She told him, before walking away from him.
"No problem. My men are up there. They'll look after you." He shouted after her.
"Good. Love a Roman." Amy replied, continuing up the steps and outside.
Once she was gone, Rory turned to the Doctor and Kari. "She doesn't remember me. How can she not remember me?"
"Because you never existed." Kari told him gently. She knew it was going to hurt him, but she knew Amy would remember him, eventually.
"There are cracks. Cracks in time. There's going to be a huge explosion in the future, on one particular day. And every other moment in history is cracking around it." The Doctor told him, sonicking away at the box.
"So how does that work? What kind of explosion? What exploded?" Rory asked, getting a little agitated.
"Doesn't matter." The Doctor told him, glancing at Kari. "The cracks are everywhere now. Get too close to them and you can fall right out of the universe."
"So I fell through a crack and now I was never born?" He asked.
"Basically."
"Well, how did I end up here?"
"I don't know, you shouldn't have." The Doctor said, before stopping what he was doing and walking over to Rory. "What happened? From your point of view, what physically happened?" He asked.
"I was in the cave, with you two and Amy. I was dying, and then I was just here, a Roman soldier. A proper Roman. Head full of Roman… stuff. A whole other life, just here like I'd woken up from a dream. I started to think it was a dream, both of you and Amy and Leadworth." Rory explained to them. "And then today, in the camp, the men were talking about the visitors. The girl with the red hair and the girl with the golden eyes. I thought you'd come back for me. But she can't even remember me."
"Oh, shut up." Kari said, letting a smile creep onto her face.
"What?"
The Doctor pulled the box with the ring out of his pocket and tossed it to Rory. "Go get her."
"But I don't understand. Why am I here?" Rory asked as he caught the box.
Neither of them really knew what to say, Kari couldn't tell him, and the Doctor really didn't know. "Because you are." The Doctor said eventually. "The universe is big. It's vast and complicated and ridiculous, and sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles, and that's the theory. Nine hundred years, never seen one yet, but this would do me."
"Now, get upstairs. She's Amy and she's surrounded by Romans. I'm not sure history can take it." Kari told him, giving him an encouraging smile.
Kari and the Doctor watched as he made his way outside, to get his fiancée back. "I have to admit, Rory does look good as a Roman." Kari said with a smirk.
"Oh? Is that so?" The Doctor asked her, not sure how to take her comment.
She just smiled at him. "Yup. Like Amy and I said, hot Italians, only one thing can beat that on my list." Kari said, sending him a wink, which made him blush. "Aww, you're so adorable when you do that." She reached up and pinched his cheeks a little.
"Oh, stop it. We have work to do." He told her, pulling the communicator out and contacting River. "The TARDIS, where is it? Hurry up." He called to her.
"Don't raise your voice, don't look alarmed, just listen." River told him calmly. "They're not real. They can't be. They're all right here in the story book. Those actual Romans. The ones I sent you, the ones you're with right now. They're all in a book at Amy's house. A children's picture book."
The Doctor looked over at Kari who was standing there, chewing on her thumb. "What are you even doing there?" He asked River.
"It doesn't matter. The TARDIS went wrong. Doctor, how is this possible?" She asked him.
"Something's using her memories. Amy's memories." He told her, thinking as hard as he could.
"But how?"
"You said something had been there."
"Yes. There's burn marks on the grass outside." She told him. "Landing patterns."
The Doctor let out a sigh, he could see Kari knew so much about what was going on, and he could see it was worrying her. "If they've been to her house, they could have used her psychic residue. Structures can hold memories, that's why houses have ghosts. They could've taken a snap shot of Amy's memories. But why?"
"Doctor, who are those Romans?"
"Projections, or duplicates." He said, looking around at them. He reached out and pulled Kari closer to him, she didn't even try to pull away, nor did she say a word.
"But they were helping us." River protested. "My lipstick even worked."
"They might think they're real. The perfect disguise. They actually believe their own cover story, right until they're activated."
"Doctor, that Centurion…" Kari knew what was coming next, but all she could think about was what was happening above ground between Rory and Amy. "It's a trap. It has to be. They used Amy to construct a scenario you'd believe, to get close to you."
"Why? Who'd do that? What for? It doesn't make sense." There was a loud bang from inside the TARDIS. "River? River?" The Doctor called in a panic. "River, what's happening?"
"I don't know. It's the engines. Doctor, there's something wrong with the TARDIS, like something else is controlling it." River called over the noise while trying to regain control of the ship.
"You're flying it wrong."
"I'm flying it perfectly." She shouted. "Kari taught me."
He gave Kari a quick glance. "26th of June 2010. That's where River is right now." She whispered, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.
"You need to get out of there now." He bellowed to River as he watched Kari closely. "Any other time zone. Just go."
"I can't break free."
"Well then, shut down the TARDIS. Shut down everything!" The Doctor was getting more and more worried, and more anxious the longer Kari stayed silent.
"I can't." River cried. "Someone else is flying it. An external force. I've lost control."
"But how? Why?" There was an ear splitting screeching noise, Kari quickly put her hands over her ears before looking at the Romans, who were now slumped over. "Listen to me, just land her anywhere. Emergency landing, now. There are cracks in time. We've seen them everywhere, and they're getting wider. The TARDIS exploding is what causes them, but we can stop the cracks ever happening if you just land her."
"It's not safe."
"Doctor…" Kari called, looking at the box that was now slowly opening.
"Well, now. Ready to come out, are we?" He asked, looking at the box with interest.
"Doctor? I'm down. I've landed." River finally managed to tell the Doctor.
"Okay, just walk out of the doors. If there's no one inside, the TARDIS engines shut down automatically. Just get out of there. Run!"
"Doctor? Doctor, I can't open the doors."
"Doctor, Amy's outside with Rory, and a hell of a lot more Autons. But we won't make it that far." Kari said, noticing the ones walking towards them. They grabbed hold of the Doctor and Kari and marched them away from the Pandorica.
"Plastic Romans. Duplicates, driven by the Nestene Consciousness, eh? Deep cover, but what for? What are you doing? What's in there, eh? What's coming out?" The Doctor asked as he was dragged along.
The ones that were holding both him and Kari turned around to face the box, but not them. "The Pandorica is ready." Kari whispered, at the same time one of the Romans called. The Doctor looked over at her and saw that she was close to tears.
"What, do you mean it's open?" He asked, wondering why Kari was so upset.
"YOU HAVE BEEN SCANNED, ASSESSED, UNDERSTOOD, DOCTOR, KARI." Slowly the Doctor turned his head around and saw the Supreme Dalek speaking to him. Once he finished, more appeared behind.
"Scanned? Scanned by what, a box?" The Doctor asked, trying to break out of the grip he was in.
"YOUR LIMITS AND CAPACITIES HAVE BEEN EXTRAPOLATED." A Cyberman called, teleporting into the room along with Sontarans, Judoon, Silurian and many others.
Then some Sontarans appeared. "The Pandorica is ready."
"Ready for what?"
Kari held her breath and closed her eyes, she knew what was going to be said next, and she didn't want to hear it. "READY FOR YOU." The white Dalek screeched.
That was when the Auton Romans who were holding onto the Doctor and Kari started to drag both of them forward. With every step, the Doctor struggled, trying to pull away and get free of his captors.
Kari, on the other hand, just seemed to be in shock. She hadn't looked inside the Pandorica, she hadn't seen that there were two seats in this one. She didn't struggle, she just kept her eyes focused forward and tried her best to hold back the tears that were forming. She was scared, and Kari didn't want to admit it.
"You lot, working together. An alliance. How is that possible?" The Doctor asked, as they were both restrained in the box. The Doctor's chair was facing outwards, while all Kari could look at was the inside wall at the back.
"THE CRACKS IN THE SKIN OF THE UNIVERSE." The Supreme Dalek told him.
One of the Sontarans took a step forward. "All reality is threatened."
"ALL UNIVERSES WILL BE DELETED." The Cyberleader announced.
"What? And you've come to me for help?" The Doctor wondered. If he had been able to see Kari, he would see the tears had now begun to stream down her face.
"No. We will save the universe from you!" The Sontaran shouted at him.
"From me?" The Doctor asked. "What about Kari? She hasn't going anything to do with this." He protested, hoping they would let her go.
"ALL PROJECTIONS CORRELATE. ALL EVIDENCE CONCURS. THE DOCTOR AND KARI WILL DESTROY THE UNIVERSE." The Dalek screeched at him.
"No, no, no. You've got it wrong." He protested, pulling at the metal clamps holding him down.
"THE PANDORIC WAS CONSTRUCTED TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THE ALLIANCE." The Cyberleader called out.
"A SCENARIO WAS DEVISED FROM THE MEMORIES OF YOUR COMPANION." The Dalek was referring to Amy, they had used her memories to trap the Doctor, and apparently, Kari.
"A trap the Doctor and Kari could not resist." The Sontaran called.
"THE CRACKS IN TIME ARE THE WORK OF THE DOCTOR AND KARI. IT IS CONFIRMED." The Dalek continued to explain.
"No. No, no, not me, the TARDIS. And we're not in the TARDIS, are we?" The Doctor carried on protesting, and trying to fight his way out. He had not heard a word from Kari, and that worried him more than anything.
"ONLY THE DOCTOR AND KARI CAN PILOT THE TARDIS."
"Please, listen to me!" The Doctor pleaded.
"YOU WILL BE PREVENTED."
"Total event collapse! Every sun will supernova at every moment in history. The whole universe will never have existed. Please listen to me." The Doctor cried in desperation.
"SEAL THE PANDORICA." The Cyberleader called. Slowly the box began to close, with Kari and the Doctor inside.
"No! Please, listen to me." The Doctor shouted. "The TARDIS is exploding right now and we're the only ones who can stop it. Listen to me!"
"Forget it, Doctor. They aren't going to let us out anytime soon, so save your breath." Kari muttered. In her mind she was replaying the scenes that she was missing outside and in the TARDIS. Rory had just shot Amy, and River was trapped in an exploding TARDIS.
This was definitely not how Kari saw this adventure going. She had never expected to be locked in the Pandorica with the Doctor, she had not expected the Daleks to even know her name, or that she could fly the TARDIS. Now, all she could do, was wait.
A/N: Who saw that coming? Well, I did, obviously. Oh, wait till we get to the end of The Big Bang 2. The big secret that everyone has been keeping from Kari is finally revealed. Sorry for making you guys wait so long.
As if Kari didn't have enough to deal with, it just keeps on coming at her.
Anyway, thank you to all you wonderful people who have reviewed. I love you all lots. And a thank you to those who have favourites/followed the story. And of course, those of you who are still reading this.
Next chapter coming soon. I promise.
Pippa.